lawn mower boat moter

[dmuncy007]

So I bought an old Ted Williams 5hp motor off a guy on facebook, said he had it running just needed the carb cleaned and that he sold his boat so no need for the motor. $150 cleaned the carb it would act like it wanted to start but couldn't get it to run. Took it to a guy that I knew could work on boat motors and he said the spark plug was too long and was scoring the piston and now its junk. I was thinking about buying a predator vertical shaft from harbor freight and make a homemade engine. I think I can do it for less than $150 but don't know if I should spend the money on it or just save it and roll the dice on another used motor. I'm not in the position to buy a new motor. Its for a little 12ft semi v doesn't have to be pretty just push the boat any suggestions

 

[1960 yellowboat]

Before you do anything else. try running the motor with a shorter nose plug. Those engines were made by Eska and if you look it up on the net, you'll find the right plug for it.

As for mounting a lawn mower engine on the engine. Guess what, Those Eska motors were originally Tecumseh lawn mower engines!
Go to You Tube and you will find bunches of guys who converted old outboards to lawn mower engines. It's quite easy to do.